Believing in the ‘Power of One’

Posted by Bill on January 21, 2012

“Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin …” (Zechariah 4:10a)

In 2004, a small door of opportunity opened up to my former teammates, Fredrick and Bosco, to minister to two Sudanese refugee communities, situated in the poorer regions of Cairo (at Arba-We-Nus and Hay El Ashre). In the home of a believer at Arba-We-Nus, Fredrick and Bosco shared our vision for a small groups based church. Our vision was enthusiastically embraced by the host and his family … and “one” small group was formed on that day.

After meeting together for just one month the members of this “one” small cell group conducted an ambitious Good News outreach program, contacting fifty families in each of the two Sudanese communities. As a result, seventy families from each community responded to an invitation to gather at the venue of this “one” small group to hear God’s Good News of salvation and hope for their lives. Upon their arrival, each family was presented with a food gift pack, containing; rice, tea, sugar, soap and oil (the cost of the food packs was met by the members of this “one” small group). Every visitor was touched by the love, compassion, and open-heart generosity of the members of this “one” small group.

Two years later, together with Fredrick and sixteen other small group pastors from Maadi Community Church, I travelled to Arba-We-Nus where I was given the privilege of dedicating to the Lord our third daughter church (The Sudanese Interdenominational Church). This new church represented just one half of what resulted from the small beginnings of “one” small group. Two months later, I returned to Arba-We-Nus to dedicate the birth of one more daughter church (the second half of this amazing outcome).

In just two years, through the exercise of faith in God, and through the dedication, commitment and sacrifice of the members of “one” small group, 91 small groups resulted (with 947 members)! The needs of many desperate people were met, and hundreds of souls were saved and brought into God’s Kingdom! Wow! Wow! Wow! The power of “One” defied our imaginations. Immediately after returning to Maadi I forwarded this message to the pastoral staff of MCC:

I am reporting to you on the dedication service of the Sudanese Interdenominational Church that took place at 5 pm today. This event will go down in my history book as one the most memorable experiences of my life. 250+ men, women and children gathered together in a simple worship facility, and with sincere hearts, praised the Lord, and thank Him for His grace and mercy in their lives. Fredrick preached his heart out and 12 more souls came to Christ! Immediately, these young spiritual “babes” were followed-up. When I called for those who were serious about committing their lives to the work of nurturing and maturing their infant church, everyone present sprang to their feet and joined with me in a prayer of commitment to nurture and grow their church. The Lord was glorified through this amazing event!

None of this would have happened without Fredrick and Bosco believing in the power of “One” – the power of God.

The Bible says in Job 8:7, “And though you started with little, you will end with much”. Friends, do you believe in the power of “One”?

A “brave-hearted” servant from Cameroon

Posted by Bill on December 31, 2011

“Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be the slave of all” (Mark 10:43-44).

At the top of the Lord’s character criteria for leadership selection is humility. If our service for the King is to be judged honourable it must first be motivated by a heart that is humble. Going back to my Cairo years, we were constantly looking out for “fast” believers to join our expanding team of lay small group pastors. We used the word FAST as an acronym to help us in our selection for suitable leaders. FAST stands for

Faithful,
Available,
Servant-hearted and
Teachable.

All four elements of the acronym had to be sufficient in amount and openly evidenced before candidates would be considered for leadership. Disqualification from our leadership team resulted when just one of these elements fell below the standard required or was no longer present in a candidate’s life.

Pastor Sunday Sikod In June, 2006, four hundred and fifty fast lay-leaders kept the ministry and missions’ machinery of our church well serviced and operating effectively and efficiently. Without our fast leaders MCC would not be where it was at that time – a front-line, trail-blazing pioneering church. When it comes to fast leaders, Sunday Sikod was an outstanding servant-hearted model leader. I first observed Sunday through his ministry of hospitality at MCC – serving tea, coffee and water to worshippers in each of our four weekly services. Sunday’s charisma came from his humble heart and was evidenced through his gentle and quiet spirit, his genuine desire to serve, and his friendly smile.

Before travelling to The Philippines on a ministry assignment, Lyn Taleon, one of our cell groups zone directors, prayerfully selected Sunday from her team of coaches to function in her absence as the director of her zone. What was Sunday’s response to his selection? He said:

I am serving as one of the coaches, presently caring for five cell groups. Last December, I was invited by my Zone Director, Lyn Taleon, to act on her behalf during the time of her month’s absence. Sitting in for Lyn was for me very challenging, given the fact that I’m naturally not a bold and outspoken person. Also, I saw myself ministering to groups with people who appeared more knowledgeable, older and more inspired than me. I felt inadequate, and I was at the point of refusing Sister Lyn’s encouraging invitation. All I could see was defeat. Then I remembered the Scriptures that said, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, and love, and self-discipline (2 Tim 1:7 NLT).” God spoke to me clearly and I decided to take up the post. I submitted to Him in prayer and asked Him to lead me. I could not grade my performance but all I did was to work hard and honestly, and expected God to lead. Friends, through this I learnt that through God, everything is possible! He gave me a brave heart, strength and understanding because of my faith in Him. I have learnt that God rewards two things; faith and humility.

Friends, several months later, at nearby Hadayek El Maadi, MCC dedicated to the Lord the first of five new daughter churches (all were formalised before December, 2006). Who do you think was chosen to pastor the first new daughter church, known as The Church of the Redeemed? Sunday Sikod … the humble servant from Cameroon was the obvious choice! And, what was Pastor Sunday doing four days later at MCC, the mother church … serving tea, coffee and water of course! What else would you expect this humble “brave-hearted” servant from Cameroon to be doing?

Created and commanded to reproduce!

Posted by Bill on December 24, 2011

“God blessed them and told them, Multiply and fill the earth …. Genesis 1:28.

… go and make disciples of all the nations …” Matthew 28:19.

God created mankind with reproductive capabilities, both in the physical and spiritual realm. When it comes to physical reproduction, it seems that mankind does not need a great deal of prompting to get on with the job of “filling the earth”. However, when it comes to spiritual reproduction, many believers need a cattle prod to get them thinking about re-producing themselves … to make disciple-makers.

Multiplication is not a term that sits comfortably in the minds of many Christians today. Some believers expend more time and energy in arguing and opposing any move to multiply, preferring to keep things the way they are. Such people are obstructing the work and power of the Holy Spirit and should move aside to allow the Spirit of God to do that which is natural and automatic in the life of a healthy spiritual Body (the Church); similar to that which is natural and automatic with the biological cells of a healthy physical body.

Why do some people oppose multiplication? There are a number of reasons. For some, “multiplication” means mutilation, fragmentation, breaking up, division or splitting – all are negative terms. When challenged to multiply, some protest … We don’t want to break up; we’ve grown close to each other; we want to stay together, and go deeper; multiplication is risky; it’s easier and safer to leave things just as they are. Does this sound familiar to you?

I credit satan as being the culprit who prompts such thoughts in the minds of believers in churches worldwide. Whilst satan is quite happy to sit back and not interfere with mankind “filling the earth” with sin-natured physical beings he’s not happy to sit idle as believers strive to populate the Kingdom of God with regenerated souls. Satan employs a vast array of diabolical tricks to discourage believers from engaging in efforts that result in multiplication. Friends, spiritual multiplication is about expanding the Kingdom of God with your unsaved friends … not mutilating, fragmenting, dividing or splitting it up!

During my term on staff at Maadi Community Church, I was the banner-bearer for multiplication through spiritual reproduction. I can still remember, back in 2006, in a community just 10 minutes drive away from our church, we dedicated the first of five of our cell-groups church plants. This exciting event resulted from multiplication efforts from those in our cell groups. Lyn Taleon was the Zone Director of this work. Though short in stature, Lyn did not fear multiplication. In fact, she dreamt about it, prayed and worked faithfully, diligently and sacrificially to see this happen. Together with her coaches, this little Pilipino laboured carefully in planting the Good Seed, and reaped a mighty harvest for their efforts. This new church plant was made up of 50 cell groups (447 members)!

Friends, satan is the minister of doom. Although he cannot kill a spiritual cell of the Body of Christ, he can interfere with its growth; limit its development and prevent it from multiplying. Satan will not warn believers that their small group will eventually die, if it does not multiply (at the right time, and in the right way).

I am glad there are believers who are faithful to the Lord’s command to reproduce.

Just Imagine

Posted by Bill on December 17, 2011

IMAGINATION_by_archanN

I joined the ministry team at Maadi Community Church (MCC) in May, 2000, hoping the Lord might build His church through me and my wife, Beryl (Matthew 16:18a). Even though I knew I was a weak vessel, I willingly gave myself to the Lord, expecting Him to do great and mighty things. I expected the Lord to establish networks of small groups that would care for God’s people, grow many lay-leaders, and engage in bold Kingdom expansion activities. Throughout my time at MCC, I exercised an “extra mile” commitment in everything I did. I poured my mind, heart, body and soul into this work. Not only did the Lord fulfil my expectations, He went one amazing step further by birthing five churches from our expanding number of small groups. What a surprise!

Why didn’t I expect the Lord to birth churches from our efforts? In my case, there are two reasons: Firstly, birthing churches was outside of my ministry experience, and secondly, I never imagined this possibility. My Egypt experience took me from being willing to dream dreams that “I/we” can make happen to the spiritual realm of imagination … dreaming dreams that only the Lord can achieve. I now know that the ability to imagine such things is a gift, offered by God to His children to help them “see” in advance His grand purpose for their lives! Through the exercise of this amazing gift the Lord performs His plans … “plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11b).

In my small “Collins Gem” Australian English Dictionary, “imagination” is defined as, “faculty of making mental images of things not present”. I like this definition, but from a Christian perspective the following definition is better: “faculty of receiving from God mental images of things not present.”

In the Old Testament we learn of Joseph’s amazing gift of imagination. His brothers made fun of him and dismissed him as a “dreamer” (Genesis 37:5-11). The exercise of one’s imagination is something that is not usually encouraged in most families, work places, and churches. Living within the safe parameters of “do only that which is humanly possible” seems to be the norm for most people in the world. It’s the norm, alright, but it’s not all right with me! This near-sighted view robs us of the amazing hope that Scripture teaches we have in our relationship with the Lord – to open our spiritual eyes and see … and to reach out and take hold of everything the Lord has determined for us.

In July, 2006, I had the privilege of dedicating to the Lord the second of our five daughter churches at Ain Shams (an hour’s drive from Maadi) – the Interdenominational Revival Bible Church was born and dedicated to God’s great glory. I knew this young church had an exciting future ahead. Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, I could see this church growing and maturing into a fine adult church, and then multiplying many daughter churches that would grow and multiply many daughter churches.

Friends, my imagination has been sparked by the Holy Spirit and has taken me to many exciting new places in life. I can now see further, and I can now see more! My imagination runs hot with amazing possibilities. Do you know what I’m talking about? Do you have the gift of imagination? Are you exercising that gift? Just imagine! There’s a whole new world out there waiting to be seen and seized.

Exercise this divine gift – see and experience the amazing things the Lord has in store for you.

Healthy cells pulsate with love

Posted by Bill on October 22, 2011

“Love your neighbour as yourself.” Matthew 22:39

When I was serving the Lord in Cairo, I referred to the cell groups of Maadi Community Church as “love gymnasiums”. I came to see that Spirit-filled small groups are ideal places where group members can safely practise the love of Christ on each other before practicing that love outside of the group, on their “neighbours” (the saved and unsaved).

Healthy cells resist the natural tendency to remain inward focussed with their love and are deliberate in maintaining a healthy balance in the life of their group by practising outward focused love exercises. These groups believe that practising a balanced love is critical to their health and development. In our small groups development training we exposed our trainees to “reaching-in” and “reaching-out” in love exercises. The following is a powerful testimony from a member of the church who was touched by God through his participation in a simple act of reaching-out in love during training. This person is Nick Truscott, presently serving on our CCI Team as Senior Associate Director. Nick says…

I finally succumbed to an invitation to join a small groups’ development course. During the training we were challenged to complete several reaching-out in love exercises. One particular exercise challenged us to minister to street cleaners in Maadi; serving them with a refreshing drink and presenting them with a small monetary gift in an envelope that was marked in Arabic “God loves you.” I didn’t have a particular street cleaner in mind, but on the day I set out and walked down Road 83. I chose an old, small guy I saw sweeping the road. I asked his name, served him with tea, made some small talk in my very bad Arabic, and gave the gift to him as I shook his right hand. With my left hand on his shoulder I prayed a simple prayer in English – thanking God for him, for the work he did – asking God to bless him and his family, and asked the Lord to use this task to teach me a life lesson.

Well, quite some time later, God delivered the lesson! While I was working at MCC, Pastor Dave Petrescue invited me to attend a leadership team retreat. After our devotional time Pastor Dave tasked us to “go and listen” to anything God had to say to us about “what we as a church are here for.” Some people went to a quiet place and prayed. I left the cell centre, crossed over Port Said Road and headed towards Canal Street. It was a beautiful morning and although Pastor Dave had asked us all to listen, I couldn’t help thanking God for a really glorious Maadi morning that seemed to herald the end of the winter. Anyway, I didn’t know the Canal Street area very well and quickly found myself in a side road I didn’t recognize. I knew I wasn’t lost or in danger – in fact I was thinking about getting back to the cell centre on time. As I looked around, a little hunched figure ran wildly across the road towards me shouting, “Mister, ya mister, ahlan, ahlan”. Before I could even get a look at this “little” man’s face I found myself in one of the strongest hugs I had ever experienced – even stronger than a Pastor Dave bear hug.

When the man finally let go of me he stood back, still holding on to my hand – and I still didn’t recognize him. His wise looking old face was just beaming. He was pumping my hand constantly and just thanking me. Finally when he told me his name it dawned on me – this was the same guy I had served with tea in my reaching-out in love exercise. I was still very surprised by his behaviour and told him I had to go. This conversation had gone on in Arabic. His Arabic was of course perfect, and mine was very poor.

He was still holding my hand and before I could pull it away he pulled me towards him and hugged me again. With his head in my chest he said, Shukran, habibi (thank you, dear friend), followed by three English words, “You prayed me.” He then let go of me and went off across the street where he had come from. I felt tears stream down my cheeks. To say I was stunned would be an understatement. I walked back to the cell centre a little dazed that this old man would not only remember me from that day a year ago, but that while he parted he expressed thanks that I had prayed for him.

I was the last one to get back to the cells centre and I sat down without talking to anyone. I picked up Pastor Dave’s Bible and flicked open the pages randomly. The Bible opened at the first chapter of the Book of Acts, and as I read, verses 7 and 8 jumped out at me” … the Father sets those dates, He replied, and they are not for you to know. But when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive power and will tell people about Me everywhere – in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:7-8).

When it came to my turn to share my “listening to God” experience I told my colleagues what had happened. God’s answer for me to the question “what are we here for as a church?” was very clear – the Church (the body of believers) must … tell people about Jesus everywhere”. And secondly, the personal lesson I learned was that through Christ and His sacrifice on the cross, our lives have eternal significance and it is not for us to know how or when God will choose to use us. These truths, revealed to me by God on a beautiful day in Maadi through a little Egyptian street cleaner, have had a profound impact on both my life and work. Nick.

Friend’s, reaching-out in love to the unchurched/unsaved with the love of Christ is what we are here for. Doing this profoundly impacts lives – ours, and others! The Holy Spirit fills our hearts with unlimited agape love from the Father for the purpose of reaching-in and reaching-out with His love (Romans 5:5).

Healthy cells pulsate with love.